According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Apple's iPad will soon be home to a nifty touch-optimized Microsoft Office suite.

Long anticipated and hotly rumored (for years), the soon-to-be-retired Microsoft boss has effectively let the cat out of the bag by confirming that Office will eventually land on Apple's market leading tablet.

"iPad will be picked up when there's a touch first user interface," Ballmer says. According to The Verge, this aforementioned touch first interface will presumably land on the Windows version of Office first, with the iPad to follow.

Microsoft teased touch-based versions of Office for Windows 8.1 earlier this year at the company's Build developer conference. A special "Metro-style" version of PowerPoint was shown, but Microsoft refused to commit to a release date.

Ballmer revealed that the touch first interface is now "in progress" but no time-frame for launch was given. For the time being, it also remains to be seen if Microsoft's Office for iPad app will mandate an Office 365 subscription (something iPhone users know all about.)

MS should really just stick with their cash cows: full Windows and Office. I think their foray into hardware is not a good idea. It hasn’t gone well and only caused bad blood between them and their hardware partners. They would make truckloads off Office for iPad/Android (just don’t make it subscription!!!)

With hardware been more powerful and efficient, they should focus on prodiving the most efficient full windows for ultraportables and tablets. That will be enough to differentiate themselves from Android/iPad even with Office available for those systems.

Anything on a mobile OS will likely be somewhat gimped from the full version, as it already is on Windows RT, MS just tries to keep that a secret.

First off..get a new shirt. Second, I find it ODD that big business' don't listen to the "People" and give us what we want. Instead, they try to be an all in one when they never started that way. Like the above states..stick to what you know.